Recommend a light 1 person backpack tent pls.

[WVELK]

I am looking for a light one person tent to take on a sheep hunt this year. I am looking at Stone Glacier, Kuiu and Hilleberg. If you have a go to favorite for this type of hunting, please let me know the pros and cons. I have read a lot on line here and other forums, but seems like new threads get new people to chime in. So thanks in advance.

 

[Brad@Argali]

I've only done one sheep hunt in AK, but I have hunted in AK a fair bit. It seems like you're looking at freestanding shelters. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever, and this is not me trying to push one of our tents, but I would consider a non-freestanding tent just for weight and space savings. The weight difference is substantial, and any time I'm backpack hunting in AK it's what I've taken on every hunt in every part of the state. I'm also jealous you're going sheep hunting! Best of luck.

 

[rclouse79]

Check out Durston x-mid.

 

[LCguy]

One brand I never see menitoned on here is Six Moon Designs. Give them a look.

 

[tttoadman]

I am a big fan of six moons. I have the Lunar Solo with single pole. Decent interior space as long as you are not too tall. Bellies down pretty good if snow, but will stay up. I am too old to spend money on new gear, but I like the new Six Moons free standing tent. It has pole sleeves at the bottom like Kuiu and Hilleberg to allow double poles in heavy weather. Also has the double crossover poles that really seem to be the best design for 2 pole 4 season capable tents. I saw another similar one ---> Nortent Vern 1.

 

[Bater]

Durston X-Mid/X-Mid solid covers all of my backpack hunting needs. Highly recommended!

 

[Legend]

Whatever tent you buy make certain it has a wind rating that exceeds your needs. If it has never been rated then that should tell you something.

 

[WVELK]

With help from you and others, I think I an ruling out Kuiu and Stone Glacier. They just don’t have the water proofing of many others. I also think I prefer a freestanding tent. I am very hesitant to go with one that utilizes treking poles. I have never went on a hunt where I did not break at least one pole.

I found Tarp Tents the ArcDome and Rainbow are two freestanding tents I am considering.
I did some additional research on Hilleberg and they seem excellent. My only concern is they are a little heavier as a freestanding. Last year on a Dall hunt there was zero chance of using a stake. You could tie the lines around rocks, but not driving a stake into rock.

 

[Cyril]

Fyi, I dont think the rainbow is technically freestanding. I believe semi freestanding, it needs either 4 corner stakes or a trekking pole across both foot and head end to hold the rectangular footprint.

Not saying it shouldn't be considered, just details on how it pitches.

 

[Maxhunter]

I like MSR Hubba Hubba NX. I use too use a one man but once the two man got light I prefer two man. Reason is and I’ve hunt sheep and mountain goats. When the weather gets nasty it’s nice to have the extra room and helps keep gear dry. Lots of good choices now days.

 

[WCS]

Ive used a few of the tents on your list. Used a Hilleberg Niak the last couple of years and its been an incredible tent for sheep hunting/guiding. Ive also used an Akto, Nallo 2 GT, Soulo and Allak. Hilleberg's are solid, but weigh more than most other tents. Having the fly first pitch is a must for me now. Ive watched a few clients fight to get the fly onto their tent as a storm blows in and its been a rodeo on a few occasions.

Company i worked for in the past had early versions of the kuiu mountain star. Had some issues with them leaking.

Also ran a tarptent stratospire Li for a season, nice and light but had me sweating on a few windy nights.

Using a Durston X-dome this year. Had it out on a few hiking trips and its held up to some serious weather so far. It also comes in about one pound lighter than my Niak and still has a fly first pitch.

 

[bowhuntercoop]

Durston x mid is hard to beat imo. My buddy let me borrow one last weekend to compare to my Lanshan. Needless to say I ordered a x mid. Gunna be amazing for mule deer,elk, back pack hunting. Quality blew me away compared to my Lanshan and six moons haven.

 

[jakeyjohn1]

Tarptent moment and scarp too. Honestly tarptents whole catalog is worth a close look

If there is a trekking pole tent that seems perfect, you can consider getting dedicated poles for it. tentpoletech makes custom length poles, tarptent makes an adjustable length pole designed to be used instead of trekking poles in tents as well as fixed length poles, and six moon designs sells fixed length poles. Im sure there are many more brands doing it too.

The rainbow is my go to tent. the arch is an engineered gothic arch and the provided tie out points on the arch are at the mathematically optimum points. Using additional poles under the top spreader bar really prevents movement in wind. When using poles in the freestanding setup, those poles create more ways to anchor the tent.

if you're crossshopping with hilleberg then bigsky international could be worth a look. the chinook has always caught my eye.

All tents need to be anchored, freestanding or not. While freestanding definitely have their pros, imo not staking/anchoring shouldnt be considered one of them.

 

[WVELK]

Ive used a few of the tents on your list. Used a Hilleberg Niak the last couple of years and its been an incredible tent for sheep hunting/guiding. Ive also used an Akto, Nallo 2 GT, Soulo and Allak. Hilleberg's are solid, but weigh more than most other tents. Having the fly first pitch is a must for me now. Ive watched a few clients fight to get the fly onto their tent as a storm blows in and its been a rodeo on a few occasions.

Company i worked for in the past had early versions of the kuiu mountain star. Had some issues with them leaking.

Also ran a tarptent stratospire Li for a season, nice and light but had me sweating on a few windy nights.

Using a Durston X-dome this year. Had it out on a few hiking trips and its held up to some serious weather so far. It also comes in about one pound lighter than my Niak and still has a fly first pitch.

I was ready to pull the trigger on the X-dome then saw this review and changed my mind. I realize you will ALWAYS find a bad review, but I think this guy was fair. What is your favorite 2 person Hilleberg tent - three season is all I need but would not run away from a red or black label.

 

[WVELK]

Ive used a few of the tents on your list. Used a Hilleberg Niak the last couple of years and its been an incredible tent for sheep hunting/guiding. Ive also used an Akto, Nallo 2 GT, Soulo and Allak. Hilleberg's are solid, but weigh more than most other tents. Having the fly first pitch is a must for me now. Ive watched a few clients fight to get the fly onto their tent as a storm blows in and its been a rodeo on a few occasions.

Company i worked for in the past had early versions of the kuiu mountain star. Had some issues with them leaking.

Also ran a tarptent stratospire Li for a season, nice and light but had me sweating on a few windy nights.

Using a Durston X-dome this year. Had it out on a few hiking trips and its held up to some serious weather so far. It also comes in about one pound lighter than my Niak and still has a fly first pitch.

Responding again I looked at the Niak again. Is there any reason you went with Durston X-Dome over the Niak other than price? The X-Dome is certainly priced better.

 

[WVELK]

I have two friends in BC and the Yukon that run the Kuiu Mountain Stars for all but late season hunts and each swear by them for wind and rain. I stayed in one twice last year and it was nice. My ONLY concern about them is the 1200 mm HH rating vs 5,000 for the Niak. If a person got into 3 days of hard rain (which you can get in Canada based on my limited), you might be darn glad you spent another $500 for the Niak.

Ignore the italics I have no idea how I did that on this i-pad.

 

[WCS]

I was ready to pull the trigger on the X-dome then saw this review and changed my mind. I realize you will ALWAYS find a bad review, but I think this guy was fair. What is your favorite 2 person Hilleberg tent - three season is all I need but would not run away from a red or black label.

I wouldn't say that's a bad review, but I wouldn't call it entirely fair. I simply wouldn't buy a tent with carbon poles. When carbon poles fail, they tend to fail spectacularly. A client I guided years ago had a carbon pole fail and he spent the remainder of the night sleeping in the vestibule of my Akto (which is why I no longer use that tent for guiding but still love it for late season use on my own hunts).

Also, I know it has been noted in other forums, the X-dome 2 isn't as sturdy as the X-dome 1. Having used the 1 person, I wouldn't bother getting the 2 just for myself, it has a lot of room for my sleeping pad and my gear.

My favourite Hilleberg is still my Niak, it's just a tent I don't ever worry about and it's lighter than other Hillebergs. Currently in my gear room I also have a Nallo 2Gt, Akto, Soulo, Anjan 3GT. The Nallo and Anjan are tunnel tents and the GT vestibule takes up a lot of room, which can make site selection interesting in the alpine. I'll still reach for the Nallo if I'm guiding and the forecast is ugly. That being said, the sloping end can result in condensation soaking the footbag of your bag/quilt with that style of tent. The Soulo is bombproof but heavy. Last time I used it I was doing a float hunt for moose so weight wasn't much of a concern. I don't really use it for backpacking anymore. I still use my Akto quite a bit. I like that it vents pretty well, has a small footprint and has withstood some brutal storms. It can be a bit tough to wait out weather in the Akto though. I spent 3 days tent bound due to weather one year and it felt a little tight at times. I worked for a consulting company where I was provided with an Allak for a season of field work. It was an amazing tent, but way too heavy for backpack hunting. Nice to have as a base camp type tent while doing fieldwork though. Feel free to fire me any other questions that you might have.

 

[WCS]

Responding again I looked at the Niak again. Is there any reason you went with Durston X-Dome over the Niak other than price? The X-Dome is certainly priced better.

For this year, it was largely weight and being able to brace the tent with trekking poles. I won't get rid of my Niak and it may come off the bench in the future, but so far I've been impressed with the X-dome's performance in the wind (up until a couple of weeks ago it's been a pretty dry spring/summer in the Yukon so can't really comment on rain). I'm taking the x-dome along on a hike to Observation Mountain in Kluane National Park next weekend, which should be another good test of the tent. The Slim's River valley is probably one the windiest areas in the territory, so we'll see how the tent fares.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

I was ready to pull the trigger on the X-dome then saw this review and changed my mind. I realize you will ALWAYS find a bad review, but I think this guy was fair. What is your favorite 2 person Hilleberg tent - three season is all I need but would not run away from a red or black label.

That wasn’t a review of the X-Dome, that was a click baity load of conjecture and feelings.